1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method and a recording medium, and more particularly to an information processing system, an information processing method and a recording medium, designed to, for example, efficiently and effectively accomplish distributed recording on a plurality of recording media.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a home network system such as the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 serial bus, a plurality of information processing units (for example, IRDs (Integrated Receiver Decoders) or DVCRs (Digital Video Cassette Recorders) are connected to each other for interchange of information among the information processing units, thereby performing reproduction (regeneration) or voice recording (picture recording). In the case of the IEEE1394 serial bus, a control side information processing unit issues an AV/C (Audio Video/Control) command to a controlled side information processing unit to implement control of the controlled side information processing unit.
As a middleware to conceal the AV/C command with respect to various types of application software, there has been known the HAVi (Hone Audio/Video Interoperability Architecture) (Trademark).
There is a problem which arises with the conventional HAVi, however, in that difficulty is encountered in recording one data on a plurality of recording media in the form of distribution or dispersion.
Accordingly, the present invention has been developed in consideration of such a situation, and it is an object of the invention to efficiently and effectively achieve distributed recording on a plurality of recording media in accordance with the free capacities of the recording media or the significance of recording data.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided an information processing system comprising first detecting means for detecting identification information corresponding to each of recording media, second detecting means for detecting a free (blank) condition of each of the recording media, storage control means for implementing storage control to store information corresponding to the free conditions, detected by the second detecting means, in accordance with the identification information detected by the first detecting means, setting means for setting the order in which recording are to be made on the recording media, on the basis of the free conditions of the recording media, and recording control means for implementing recording control to record data on the recording media in accordance with the recording order set by the setting means.
In this case, the setting means can set the recording order in one of a first mode in which the setting is made by a user and a second mode in which the setting is made automatically.
In addition, it is also appropriate that display control means is provided which controls display of the recording order set by the setting means.
Still additionally, it is also appropriate that reproducing means is provided which continuously reproduces the data recorded on the one or more recording media in the form of distribution.
Moreover, it is also appropriate that designating means is provided which designates the significance of the record media.
Still moreover, it is also possible that the detecting means is made to detect the identification information through a network.
Furthermore, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method comprising a first detection step of detecting identification information corresponding to each of recording media, a second detecting step of detecting a free condition of each of the recording media, a storage control step of implementing storage control to store information corresponding to the free conditions, detected in the second detecting step, in accordance with the identification information detected in the first detecting step, a setting step of setting the order in which recording are to be made on the recording media, on the basis of the free conditions of the recording media, and a recording control step of implementing recording control to record data on the recording media in accordance with the recording order set in the setting step.
Still furthermore, in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium retaining a program comprising a first detection step of detecting identification information corresponding to each of recording media, a second detecting step of detecting a free condition of each of the recording media, a storage control step of implementing storage control to store information corresponding to the free conditions, detected in the second detecting step, in accordance with the identification information detected in the first detecting step, a setting step of setting the order in which recording are to be made on the recording media, on the basis of the free conditions of the recording media, and a recording control step of implementing recording control to record data on the recording media in accordance with the recording order set in the setting step.
In the foregoing information processing system, information processing method and recording medium program, the order of recording on the recording media is set on the basis of the free conditions of the recording media, and data is recorded on the recording media in accordance with the set recording order.